


Eye Am Trying

by sunken_ships (sunken__ships)



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Crack, Gen, I'm Sorry, Spoilers, obviously, rewrite of end of s06ep09, the adventures of Rick trying to be a good dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 05:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6039940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunken__ships/pseuds/sunken_ships
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS FOR S06EP09</p><p>Rewrite of Rick's speech to Carl at the end of the episode, but with more puns and dad jokes. Eye'm sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eye Am Trying

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is I'm sorry also this story is saved on my computer as 'oh no' and it was posted from my phone I'm a mess
> 
> Also some of these jokes were stolen from the Internet I'm sorry again

The room was lit in a soft, yellow glow, but it could not have felt colder. Rick took slow, gentle steps towards the bed on which Carl lay. He didn't know why he was trying to be quiet. Carl wasn't asleep; he was unconscious.  
It was now that Rick began to realise the horrific irony of the situation. Carl had been shot before — it seemed like a lifetime ago now — when he was still just a child, really, and he'd survived through that struggle, only to be shot again. And when Rick gazed down at his son, all he saw was that same little boy. The one with round, slightly chubby cheeks and short hair. The one who wore his father's hat with pride, despite the fact that it was far too big for him and fell over his face constantly. The one who couldn't even shoot a gun properly. Who was still heavily dependent on his mother and father.  
One moment. One mistake.  
Rick sat down in the chair beside the bed with a tired, tired sigh. He reached down and took Carl's hand. It was still warm. Carl still breathed. But those were the only signs of life.  
Rick hung his head for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then looked back to Carl's half-bandaged face. The cheeks that had hollowed out. The long, wild hair. "Carl..."  
Rick hesitated. He didn't know what to say. He didn't have anything to say, other than, "Please wake up."  
Carl didn't stir.  
"You're not dead," Rick added hopefully, and it was almost phrased as a question. "You're alive. That's good. And you still have an eye. You could be dead." Rick's brow furrowed. "I mean, you always need to look on the bright side of life. And you'll get a new perspective on things, too. And you'll still be able to look on the bright side of life, if the bright side is on the left." He cleared his throat. "But anyway. I just want you to know that you didn't do anything wrong. It was no one's fault. Bad things just happen. I mean, yeah, Ron tried to kill me, so you could say this was his fault, but it was because I killed his dad, so you could say it was my fault, but I was doing him a favour. So really, it was Pete's fault." Rick paused in thought. "Yeah, okay, let's blame Pete. He was a huge dick. But I can't avenge your eyeball, because I already killed him. That's something I never thought I'd say."  
Rick set his jaw, anger boiling inside him. But he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Being angry would do him and Carl no good.  
Carl was alive. "You're all right," he said, and then paused. "Well, not all right. You're mostly left, now, considering..."  
Rick shook his head. "None of this is coming out right. Shit, I didn't mean to say 'right' again, sorry — I'm just saying everything wrong. I guess I've never been a glass-half-full sorta guy. You have, though. And now you kinda have to be. Seeing as you'll only be able to see half the glass anyway.  
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I need you. And you need eye. There's not much we can do about that second part, unfortunately. But you can still live. You can fight through this. You're still Carl Grimes. Well, Arl Grmes. Y'know, because you don't have an I and you can't C? Right?"  
Rick sighed and hung his head. He was not doing very well.  
"Just... You can make it. You can survive. Surv-eye-ve."  
Suddenly, he felt a slight twitch of fingers against his hand, and he gasped. Then Carl's lips moved, ever so slightly. Realising that Carl was trying to say something, Rick leaned forward. "Carl?"  
"Dad," Carl mumbled in a voice so soft that Rick could barely pick up the word.  
"Yeah?" he breathed.  
Carl took a moment to gather enough strength to reply. "Stop." And his fingers went slack once again.


End file.
